And just when some thought it would not happen again, lo and behold, we
had our second meeting last Saturday at Powerbooks Megamall.
Admittedly, its been a long time coming, but as the old adage says, better late
than never.
First
off, I would like to thank those who went. I know how important most of
our Saturday nights are to each and every one of us, but you still came
and I’m so glad and thankful that you all were there. Those who were in
attendance were Pinky, my Rowan Mayfair for life; Boots, who missed out
the last time but whose enthusiasm for what we do is infectious as
always; Lynn, our Talamascan representative who
came in black and whose accessories stole the rest of the evening
(ehem!); Ruby Mae, who had to come after her curiosity was aroused
after much persuasion. She is also my colleague from “Echoes of the Heart”, the radio talk show I do every Saturday afternoon with our one and only Ms. World, Ms. Evangeline Pascual;
Eman, Boots’ friend and manager of Kenny Rogers Megamall; and a new
recruit named Letty, who along with her 11 year old son, Lester simply
sat in our area and didn’t think that a discussion was going on prior
to when we started.
Sadly
those who were not in attendance were missed namely Toby, Powerbooks
Megamall Book Club leader and facilitator, Babette and Marie, both dear
friends and fellow Powerbooks Book Club members. 3 members of
CharmedPinoy, Penny, Deks and Jo were also missed as they had their own
meeting to be at as well. Jonatz, a fellow Terry Brooks fan and finally
Beng, the sister of Boots responsible for our logo and hard at work
with our website too.
And
so we started as everyone was coming in and kicked off with the usual
introductions and updates. Ruby Mae, starting it by revealing that she
had to come and see for herself what transpires in Book Club
discussions like these. No doubt that after tonight, she would be
attending more and has become Anne-curious. Boots who was also a former
colleague from DWIZ, came with Eman and was so happy to be finally
attending.
She added that although her sister Beng, was absent from our gathering, she is nonetheless hard at work at our groups website. I just can’t wait.
In fact, she is also responsible for our “logo”. Before moving on to
Pinky who sat beside me, the turn fell to our new “recruit”, Letty.
She
was merely seated at our area to have a little reading time of her own
when our Vampire books laid for everyone to see on the low-rise center
table caught her attention; not to mention that we, beautiful Children
of the Millenia simply could not be anything but noticeable. Pardon my
indulgencies. If we don’t do that, then who better than ourselves lest
we wait for the promise of a compliment from others who cannot give it.
Ha, ha. Lestat speaking. Ah, Le Attention. Oui.
Little
did she know that she would be in for a treat and this automatically
warrants her invitation and eventual inclusion into our coven; the
mother of 1 and an entrepreneur at that. This just reminds me of the
other parent who initially joined us the last time we met. I would be
hard pressed not to think that meeting other people who just happen to
discover us is merely an accident. And at the risk of waxing a little bit of fatalism here, nothing is of course is an accident.
And after Pinky introduced herself as well, who happens to be a former
colleague of mine from the now defunct, SVI, we were well on our way.
To
say that what they discovered about the Lestat in this second helping
of the Chronicle as being different and not the abrasive, impetuous
vamp everyone got a taste of in Interview is an understatement.
Lestat in his own tell-all book, redeems himself to a point and sheds a
little more light into his own life before becoming a vampire as well
as a take on the mythology of vampires in Anne’s universe.
You see, Lestat was the son of a marquis in the French province of Auvergne.
His title doesn’t exclude him from certain accordance of respectability
and affluence but he certainly doesn’t feel that way. Reclusive and
always searching for the meaning of his own life, he displayed a
restlessness that was unchanneled and shelved. From his father’s
blatant disregard and prohibition of a proper education, to his
mother’s indifference and ironic display of voracious reading, Lestat
only had his dreams and the quest to find meaning in his dismal
existence to contend with.
This clearly marks the foundation of a certain degree of bitterness that we see in Interview.
His quest to find meaning finds him single handedly going out into the
woods and killing a pack of wolves that have been terrorizing the
village. His brave act earned him the nick, Wolfkiller and the
attention of Magnus, the degenerate Vampire who turned him and Nicholas
de Lenfrent; another marquis son and who would later be his lover and
friend and at the same time an antithesis to Lestat’s own positive
quest.
Lestat’s
quest has extracted consequences as he had to make decision after
decision. From both turning his mother and best friend Nicholas into
vampires after escaping to Paris to become an actor and be turned into
a vampire by Magnus; to meeting Armand, the auburn-haired vampire who
lives below the Paris catacombs, Les Innocents; to abandoning them both
in search of new mentor, an older Vampire named Marius who both sired
Armand and keeper of the 1st vampires, the Mother and
Father. The book has successfully reworked the vampire mythos and its
subsequent stereotypes and simultaneously give us an origin that is
both supernatural and scientific; not to mention, original.
Most
of us in the group also agreed that Gabrielle, Lestat’s mother was not
a sympathetic character, as she would in her own way tease Lestat with
her books and yet lift not a finger to openly challenge his Father’s
ban for him to get a proper education. Ironically in the book she would
be seen reading to herself in her room or if not, foster his "street
smart” capabilities, and urging her own indulgencies through him or in
support of his very own.
What mother would deny her
own child the one thing that would make him happy and give resonance of
a meaning in his life? What parent would do that? Of course, this
brought rise to the prohibitions that our own parents imposed on us as
we were growing up; from urging us to take a different course at
school, to the restriction of certain types of people to be with and
befriend as well as to the imposing of certain living conditions as we
stay with them under the same roof.
Anne’s
take on Gabrielle was certainly a far cry from her own mother who
actually allowed her to have her own way as she grew up; from changing
her name to Anne from a previous masculine name of Howard, to just
writing and scribbling words and phrases on the wall with the use of
crayons as she ran around the house with her other siblings. Clearly,
Gabrielle would not have tolerated that.
But
more than tolerate his own mother did Lestat do. Rescuing her from
certain death as she was suffering from consumption, a fatal disease,
he turned her into an Immortal to be his longtime companion, after he
himself was made into one. She was ideally the perfect mate for him;
however she became mad and went on to travel the world, mingling with
tribes and living in the forests, and learning from nature what it can
about beauty and peace, in search of her own aesthetics.
Lestat’s
action of turning her mother can certainly be viewed as selfish in the
modern world and with our current and ever changing sense of norm and
values would still frown upon an affront display of self preservation
and blinded love and affection.
And because Lestat
was not given a choice by Magnus, his absentee maker when he turned him
into a vampire, our hero makes it a point to give his victims a choice
that he was never given; to either be an immortal or simply be fodder
for their folly, in short a victim to their never ending hunger.
And
certainly ‘twas the hunger for company, knowledge, and good
conversation that has brought this group together as we feasted on ensaymada and empanada
as our discussion, albeit short, flourished and detoured from issues of
Machiavellian and Nihilistic concepts that Anne has woven into her
works to outrage over the movie version of the Chronicles.
We
knew then as we know now that we are all still in for a further treat
as we plan for our next gathering next month where, the 3rd book of the chronicle, Queen of the Damned will be the book in focus.
Till
then my fellow Immortals. Let’s keep the fire burning and alive by
properly taking stock of our own light. And may it shine for ourselves
to remind us who we are and who we can be but also a beacon for others
to take the same lead and affect others as positively as we know how;
the very same way how Anne was able to do that and more.
Stephanie Meyer wrote in this book’s prologue that “no two writers go about things in exactly the same way. We all are inspired and motivated in different ways; we have our own reasons why some characters stay with us while others disappear into a backlog of neglected files.” 
So, it’s a good thing I am an Anne Rice loyalist and that I am typing this review from my flat in Rue Royale close to Louis and Lestat’s while hearing Violetta’s waltz from La Traviata blaring from Julien Mayfair’s Victrolla as it is turned and wound up by Mona and Lasher up until the wee hours of the morning. 
